


“A person's tongue can give you a taste of his heart.”

by beary_scary



Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Defenders (Marvel TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Blood, Dehumanization, Gun Violence, Human Trafficking, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Matt Murdock acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Mild Gore, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Frank Castle, Protective Jessica Jones, Protective Matt Murdock, Recovery, Rescue Mission, Self-Hatred, Swearing, Violence, Whump, both the vomit kind and the muzzle kind, does that even make sense, gagging, i am really bad at tagging, it's only mentioned tho, medical talk, mild body horror, poorly written fight scenes, selective mutism, vomit warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24899434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beary_scary/pseuds/beary_scary
Summary: "Peter Parker aka Spiderman has been MIA for six days and that scared the shit out of Matt Murdock aka Daredevil."Spiderman is missing for nearly a week before Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the Punisher accidentally find him. The three have to save the injured teenage vigilante from captivity and aid him in his recovery. Sure they called him ‘kid’ and teased him so frequently about his age and they all knew how old he was but at that moment, all three became painfully aware of Spiderman’s age. All persons involved underestimate how hard it may be to help a super-powered teenager recover from a traumatic experience.
Relationships: Frank Castle & Jessica Jones, Frank Castle & Matt Murdock, Frank Castle & Peter Parker, Jessica Jones & Peter Parker, Matt Murdock & Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock & Peter Parker
Comments: 45
Kudos: 339





	1. Familiar Rhythm

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic for these fandoms (despite me being a Marvel fan since I was a kid) and my first that doesn't involve an OC so please be kind. I know that some of the characters may be OOC and I apologize for that; I haven't written for them before so any tips are deeply appreciated! I am not sure how long this fic will be but I'm open for suggestions on what could possibly happen! 
> 
> The vomit warning is for next chapter but I will definitely leave a warning once it's up.
> 
> Also, the characterizations are a hodge-podge of movies, Netflix shows, and comics. Peter is a combination of comics and the MCU movies. Matt is based on the Netflix shows but I envision red-haired comic Matt when I write him. Jessica and Frank are mostly based on the Netflix shows. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I own none of the characters used in this story. All belong to MARVEL and Disney. This story is just made for fun.

“I thought you said he would be here,”

“No. I said he would probably be here. You just have selective hearing,”

“Pfft. Lawyers,”

“How is that an exclusively lawyer-esque thing to say?”

It’s been six days. Six days of complete radio silence from the kid. 

At first, Matt suspected he had been grounded for staying out past curfew- but then he remembered all the other times Peter had been ‘grounded’ yet out swinging building from building the next day.

“Are we gonna get started or what?”

“Give him ten more minutes,”

“I don’t see why w-“

“Frank. Ten more minutes,”

Matt couldn’t wrap his head around the silence from the head-splittingly loud vigilante. 

Peter Parker aka Spiderman has been MIA for six days and it was beginning to worry Matthew Murdock into his grave. (“Careful, Counselor, your mama bear is showing,” “Quiet, Jones,”)

Peter Parker aka Spiderman has been MIA for six days and three days ago a certain horned shadow heard the whispers of an apartment complex basement (“I’m shocked it isn’t an abandoned warehouse,” Jessica had remarked) being turned into a stash-house for a human trafficking ring. The detail that made Matt reach out to not only Jess, but Frank, and Peter as well were the murmurs of the ‘products’ being mutates. 

Matt began to catch-on to Spiderman’s absence the day before he heard of the trafficking ring and figured this would be a good opportunity to draw out the web-head. His nine calls to the kid’s burner phone ended in him getting his voicemail immediately ( _“Heya! It’s your friendly neighborhood Spidey! I am unable to pick up the phone right now which means I’m probably out there kicking butt or I’m losing to Luke at cards. Please leave a message and I’ll call you back ay-ess-ay-pee!”_ “Answer your fucking phone, dip-shit!” “Jess, please give me my phone back,”) 

Understanding that he wasn’t going to get through to the young vigilante à la his phone, Matt resorted to their old means of communication. 

When Peter was just starting out and he wore those obnoxious goggles and the red hoodie and the fingerless gloves and the baggy sweatpants (“I don’t know why you’re making fun of me when you’re the one who wore a black rag over your head for like a whole year,” “Kid, you are wearing a beanie with holes cut out; at least I upgraded,”), he and Matt had a system of communication. Instead of tracking the kid down and chasing him throughout Queens, Matt would leave a magnet stuck to a metal beam on the water tower that Peter accidentally webbed him to during their first meet.

(“Wait aren’t you that devil guy from Hell’s Kitchen? Oh my god, I’m so sorry I thought you were a bad guy! I’m still working on my reflexes and you scared me so I just reacted because I thought you were gonna push me off the roof or somethin’ which hasn’t happened yet but I’m sure it will-“ “Kid.” “but I think I could web myself so I don’t fall for too long ya know? Oh shit- I mean- shoot! I added silica gel to my web fluid so it will take a little bit longer to dissolve so I am super sorry-“ “Spider-kid." “but maybe if I make a spray with some type of dissolution in it, I could make a spray dissolver! During one of my trial-runs, I added too much potassium carbonate and all my web fluid crumbled into chunks that kinda felt like soap so maybe I just put some of that in a bottle and I could get you down,” “Do you have an ‘off’ button?” “Oh whoops! Hi, I’m Peter-Man shit I mean I’m Spider-Parker! Shit!”)

If Matt left the red magnet on the steel beam, that was a signal that Daredevil needed Spiderman for an emergency. Normally, this would lead to the two meeting within a day, yet it’s been two days and nada. Nothing. No contact. No astringent-smelling webs left around the city. No random calls to Daredevil’s burner phone about saving cats or random interactions with the citizens of Queens that he secretly loved to hear about. 

Peter Parker aka Spiderman has been MIA for six days and that scared the shit out of Matt Murdock aka Daredevil.

Frank Castle sighed as he roughly sat down on the roof that he, Jess, and Daredevil were camping out on, “Why do you even want to drag the kid into this? I thought you hated him doing this vigilante crap,” The devil merely angled his head towards the older man.

Jessica snorted, “It’s because he’s worried about the kid,” the ‘and so am I’ went unsaid but both her roof-mates heard it loud and clear. 

Matt grunted, “There have been no sightings of Spiderman in five days. I haven’t heard from him in six.” 

Frank scratched the back of his head, “So…what? You invited him to try and draw him out?” He got a faint nod in reply. “Eh solid plan ‘cept I don’t think the kid got your invite, Red.” He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t worried. When Frank first met Spiderman, he couldn’t help but think about his late son and how he would no doubt think the spider-themed vigilante was the coolest person ever. Teaming up with him and Red a couple of times has led him to develop a protective feeling towards the kid. Sue him. A sixteen-year-old playing hero has him wrapped around his spandex-clad finger and he doesn’t really mind it.

Matt let out an exhausted sigh, “I think you’re right but I just wanna wait for a little bit longer.” Jess let out a bored groan, “Can’t you just use your freaky hearing to find him?” 

If his eyes were visible, she’s sure that he’d be giving her an ‘are you fucking serious?’ look, “I tried that. I could never get a read on his heartbeat from where I was.”

“How can you pick out the kids ticker in the entire city?” the Punisher raised a singular eyebrow in question. No fucking way that he memorized web-head’s heartbeat. Nope. That’s just creepy.

Said creep tilted his head, “His mutation makes his heartbeat elevated. His body heat is also a little bit colder than the average person. My guess is that it’s because spiders are cold-blooded.” 

“Thinking about him actually being part spider and not just spider-themed is kind of gross not gonna lie,” Jessica couldn’t help the disgusted look on her face that she quickly buried under a mask of indifference, “but honestly I say try looking for him again. Who knows maybe your weird radar will pick up on him.”

Matt said nothing but relaxed his shoulders as he prepared to seek out the missing sixteen-year-old. 

_“-you said you had good tickets-“_

_“-ust one more drink-“_

_“-told you I’d beat you at sma-“_

_“-why didn’t we just dump him-“_

**_badump badump badump_ **

_“-be worth a fuck-ton more-“_

His body jolted as he heard the familiar rhythm which alerted Jessica and Frank. The two leaned towards him, “What? Did you hear him? Is he close by?” Jess quickly whispered but was shushed by Frank. If it were any other scenario, the raven-haired mutant would have lashed out at anyone who shushed her. But this wasn’t any other scenario.

Matt ignored the two other heartbeats on the roof with him in favor of the one that seemed to reach out to him. As he zeroed in on the familiar sound of Peter’s heart, he also heard the voices surrounding it.

 _“Oh come on do we really still need ‘im?”_ A nasal-y voice. Seemed to be close enough for a vague description of its owner. Breathing heavily - overweight. Overwhelming amount of gel in his hair. The cologne he wreaked of was cheap but meant to smell expensive. It didn’t. 

_“Do you not understand how much this lil thing could be worth?”_ Rough accent. Deep voice scuffed with years of smoking. Cigarette in left hand but gun in holster on right side meaning dominant hand is right. Favoring his left leg if the way his hips squeaked had anything to say about it. 

_“Yeah, but look at it!” “The boss said ‘e wanted to send a message.” “But won’t ‘te price go down?” “You really tha’ stupid? It’s fuckin’ Spiderman! No way the price could go down.”_

There were eleven other heartbeats in the room. Three close to the heartbeat he’s been looking for for six days. Finally allowing himself to focus more on Peter, Matt was able to get a good grasp of how the kid was doing.

While Peter’s heartbeat seemed fairly normal, it was made clear to him that he was not breathing correctly. Waves of exhaustion and pain cascaded from the boy’s very being. His arms were locked behind him with what seemed to be at least two-hundred pounds of heavy-duty chains. He seemed to be kneeling with his calves being connected to his arms with similar chains. The only difference was the increased scent of iron coming from that particular area. Matt could hear the tearing skin and could sense the constant pulling of spandex. The unfamiliar sensations left a blank area in his mind of how he was envisioning the young boy at the moment but he’d come back to that. 

More chains were wrapped around his neck and attached to the ceiling, keeping his head up and throat constricted. There seemed to be something else wrong with Peter’s throat which Matt quickly realized was a gag blocking his airways. A rattling wheeze was the only noise coming from the boy's throat.

There was too much blood leaking and skin tearing and bones grinding and joints sliding for Matt to get a clear image of Peter’s injuries but he was able to tell they were bad. One particular spot smelled of pus and copper and Matt had to hold back a gag because this was their kid who these guys were hurting and Peter let out a small whimper and Matt snapped back to the rooftop.

Breathing heavily as he processed what he just experienced, he couldn’t help but let his anger seep into his words, “They have him chained up like an animal.” His voice growled across the rooftop to his colleagues. Their attitudes changed immediately. Jessica got up and planted herself next to him as if she would be able to see him over the edge of the roof. Frank’s fists clenched so tight that Matt was almost worried about the man popping a knuckle. 

“Where is he?” Jess’s eyes swept the streets as if someone was gonna pop out into the road carrying the missing teen.

“The traffickers have him in the basement,” The growl hasn’t left his voice since his previous statement.

Frank scrambled up from his spot and joined the two to look over the edge of the building, “Are you shittin’ me right now, Red? He’s with the dickheads we’re gonna bust?” 

Matt tensely nodded, “We need to hurry.” He began towards the fire escape but was stopped by a rough hand wrapping around his arm,

“How bad is he?” Turning his head towards Jess and Frank, he was able to sense their tense muscles and their worry lines and the heat of anger forming under their skin as blood rushed to their hearts.

“Bad,” he turned back but Jessica’s firm grip never left.

“I hate to be the rational one here but don’t we need a plan?” Matt was normally the level-headed one of the group. Even Danny would sometimes jump headfirst into situations only to be stopped by the lawyer’s rational reasonings. 

Frank scoffed, “Yeah. The plan is to get the kid back an’ get rid of the bastards who got him in there.” 

He could feel Matt’s dull eyes through the mask, “Incapacitate,” 

Frank rolled his eyes but shrugged, “Whatever. Let’s just get the Spider-Kid back, sound good?”

Matt nodded. _They were gonna get their kid back._


	2. Actions Speak Louder Than Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt, Jessica, and Frank raid the basement and find their missing spider.
> 
> Trigger Warning: gore, blood, violence, poorly written fight scenes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I lied the vomit warning isn't in this chapter BUT it is DEFINITELY in the next one! My bad.
> 
> I'm trying to keep up with a schedule so I think I'm gonna try and post every other day. If any of y'all have any advice for fight scenes, please share your wisdom.

The three began down the fire escape. In the alley across from the apartment complex, they were able to get a better view of the entrance to the basement. Jessica nodded towards the street-access stairs that led down into the basement, “That’s our way in.”

Matt listened in, “There are three who are fairly close to the entrance. I think they’re meant to seem like regular people because they have their guns hidden in their jackets,” Frank hummed and Jessica nodded so he continued, “I sense eleven in total. All with fire-power. Most of them seem to be in a separate area of the basement. Some kind of storage cell maybe. That’s where they’re keeping him,” As he finished, Matt, Jessica, and Frank all hurried across the street towards the basement stairs. 

Construction signs were put up all around the area making it obvious how they got rid of civilians finding their operation. Crowding around the door, Matt nodded to Jessica who, in turn, kicked down the aforementioned door. The door that was keeping them away from their kid. The door that was now lying damaged on the floor of the basement. 

Charging into the basement like a prodded bull, The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was let loose. Following quickly behind him with just as much fury as him, The Punisher pulled out one of his TPM1 pistols. The specific fire-arm contained rubber bullets he only used for occasions in which he didn’t feel like getting into an argument with Red. In this case, he wanted to get Peter out as quickly as possible and an argument about morals would not help in the aid of the child who he could now see was heavily chained in a small sectioned-off area of the basement. Right behind the two was Jessica who quickly incapacitated the three who were closest to her and her partners who continued onward so as to finish this takedown as fast as possible.

The sweaty man closest to her reached behind his back for his gun but was halted as Jessica gripped his wrist and crushed it. He began to scream loudly but was cut off by an enhanced punch across the face. One of the other men charged at her but she quickly flipped his body over hers which led to him landing on his back and getting the wind knocked out of his lungs. The last of the three looked at her shakily, “P-please! Let me go! I have a wife an-and I have a daughter! Please, I-I’m begging you!” 

Jess scoffed and leveled the disgrace of a man with a heavy glare, “Did you listen to him when he begged you to stop?” She gestured to Peter still chained up. Frank and Matt were taking care of four more of the traffickers. 

“I-I- I wasn’t paying att-attention to what he said. I swear!”

Jess tutted, “That really doesn’t help your case here, man.”

As she continued to taunt the balding man sat down in front of her, the one she flipped began to get up- “Oh hell no, dickface,” -only to receive a swift kick to the face from Jessica’s combat boot. 

While she dealt with that, the Punisher and the Devil made quick work of the other six who charged at them. Matt was able to sense the two he heard talking still too close to the captive teenage vigilante but one seemed to be on the phone now. 

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen drew his twin batons and charged at the two closest to him. Jabbing one in the wrist making him drop his weapon before using his other baton to hit upwards and into the man’s jaw. One down. The other thug tried to slice at Matt with a blade, seemingly foregoing the use of his gun, only to have said blade removed from his grip and thrown across the room. With a quick jab to the forehead, the man fell down unconscious. 

Not wasting a second, Matt went to help Frank with his four only to find that three of them were already down with head wounds that made them seem dead if not for their thready heartbeats. Knowing that Frank was capable of dealing with the final grunt, Matt grit his teeth and swiftly diverted his attention to the two closest to Peter.

Both men had their guns aimed at him and began to fire at him as he began to charge. The smell of cheap alcohol and leather flooded his senses as Jessica joined him in dodging the bullets being aimed at them, “You take the wide one I got string bean.” He nodded sharply.

As empty clicking noises made their way to his ears, Daredevil made his move and attacked the now gun-less assailant.

_A nasal-y voice. Seemed to be close enough for a vague description of its owner. Breathing heavily - overweight. Overwhelming amount of gel in his hair. The cologne he wreaked of was cheap but meant to smell expensive. It didn’t._

Matt used all his remaining anger to make quick work of the slow man. Sliding on his knees, he used his right hand to ram his baton into the back of his knees before using his other baton to fiercely jab the man in the gut. As he fell to his knees and curled in on his gut, Matt used a final kick to the back of the man's head to send him into unconsciousness (and hopefully a coma if he put enough force behind the kick).

Now that he had a clear path, Matt ran as fast as he could over to the chained-up Spiderman. He hardly noticed Frank joining him at his side and Jessica finishing the last of the traffickers as he kneeled down in front of the boy.

“Spiderman. Hey, Spidey, can you wake up for me?” Matt lightly tapped the sides of the boy’s face when he didn’t get a reply.

Frank’s rough voice nearly made him jump, “Are all of them completely out of it?” He jabbed a calloused thumb towards the discarded men. 

Matt quickly listened to all of their breathing patterns, “Closest to the door. He’s about to wake up.”

Jessica sighed, “I got ‘im,” and she made quick work of marching over and punching the guy across his face until he was down for the count.

Now that all the attackers were unconscious, Frank pulled the dirty Spiderman mask off of Peter’s head to reveal his bloody face, “Pete. Peter. Ya gotta wake up, kid.” The veteran was a little rougher when trying to wake him up using light slaps on his cheeks to try and rouse him. There were tear tracks covering the sides of his face and trails of blood leading from his hairline. The sixteen-year-old’s brown hair was matted with blood that led the adults to worry about possible head injuries. His button nose was bleeding but not broken. 

Matt was already aware of their being a gag involved but as he touched the kid’s face, he was able to get a more horrific image of the offending tool. Frank and Jessica omitted low frequencies of anger as, they too, registered the gag. 

A rectangular metal piece was placed horizontally within the opening of Peter’s mouth with small dribbles of blood leaking from the corners of his lips. The metal rectangle was seemingly wedged in there to stop a dirty blue rag from being spit out of his mouth. None of these details suited the teenager’s baby-face that he frequently complained about. 

The gag alone made the three want to go back and beat on the captors even more than they already have.

A muffled groan broke the silence of the concrete basement earning a small sigh of relief from Jessica. At least he was kind of conscious.

“Jess, can you try and get him unchained,” Matt asked but it was definitely a demand. One which Jessica had no problem fulfilling. 

As the two men tried to speak to the boy, the raven-haired woman made her way around the kid to see the full extent of his restraints. What she saw made her heart drop causing Matt to turn his head towards her in concern.

“Holy fuck.”

Curious, Frank got up from his kneeling position and joined her in staring at the mess that was their current situation, “Shit.”

“What? What is it?” Matt asked hurriedly. His hands were still keeping contact with Peter. One was holding the boy’s face and the other was being carded through his bloody hair. Everyone who got to know the kid well enough knew how important touch was to him. His fist-bumps and handshakes lead to hugs and leaning on someone’s shoulder the more you get to know him. Matt was quick to pick up on this quirk and came to the sad conclusion that Pete was touch-starved. The topic was never brought around him but Matt definitely talked to the others about it after sensing how dejected and closed-off he was when Frank refused to let the spider-child hug him.

To Peter, touch was comfort. And God knows how much comfort the boy was going to need after this. 

Jessica’s rage was palpable as she updated the blind man on Peter’s situation, “They attached the chains to his skin.”


	3. Gag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **VOMIT & WHUMP WARNING**
> 
> okay, I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday BUT this is my longest chapter yet at 6 pages and almost 3000 words so enjoy the massive amounts of Peter whump.

Matt froze. “They what?”

Frank growled and paced away from Jessica and Peter’s chained form and the whole situation and *why him why was it the kid who had to go through this?

Jessica had to swallow the bubbling anger in her throat, “Th-They put some of the chain links through his- uh- through the s-skin on his calf,” the two men ignored the tremors in her voice in favor of brainstorming a solution to the new problem.

Letting out a shaky exhale, Matt resumed his previous action of running his fingers through Peter’s hair, “Christ. What did they do to you, kid?” Not expecting a response, he was shocked to hear a pained groan come from the boy’s that still had that damned piece of metal wedged in it. “Okay,” he exhaled again in a poor attempt at calming himself down, “okay, Jessica, can you find something to cut the chains from the links in his-in his legs?” Not waiting for an affirmative, Matt turned his head towards where he heard Frank walk off to in his own attempt at calming down, “Frank, I need you over here with me. We need to get this stuff out of his mouth and off of his neck. My-my senses aren’t able to pick up everything,” because he’s panicking and he can taste the blood in the air that once belonged inside of a sixteen-year-old’s veins and he can feel the warmth draining from his body that was still in chains and _Christ the kid is so small-_  
  
Frank cleared his throat and nodded. He was faintly aware of the fact that the devil probably didn’t see the nod just as he was aware of his trigger finger bouncing against his thigh- a nervous tic that Curtis pointed out to him once. As he tried to calm himself (no way would he be helpful with hands that are shaking so much that he has to really think back and try to remember the last time they were like that but all he could see was _blood and flesh bodies and-_ ) Frank looked at the kid (“Red, what the hell is this?” “He’s-” “I’m Spider-Man. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Castle!” “I’m not shaking your hand.”) and was reminded of all the POWs he’s come in contact with. The torture he saw still haunts the back of his eyelids and he knows that once all of this is over, seeing the kid this way will join the slideshow of pain and death and decay that he sees whenever he goes to sleep. 

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Frank marched over to the kneeling vigilante and awaited further orders. 

“I’m gonna try to wake him up, you get started on his neck,” Not needing to be told twice, Frank immediately got to work on the chains that were wrapped around Spider-Man’s neck. The way the chain links were maneuvered around the delicate neck of the fallen vigilante was not unlike the way he’d seen many dogs tied up before a dog fight. Storing that information away for later, Frank unwound the chains.

“Pete. I’m gonna need you to wake up. Okay?” Matt began to slap his face a little bit harder, “You need to wake up now. I know you want to rest right now but you really need to wake-” _”Ggnngh...”_

Matt stuttered. Frank froze. Jessica nearly jumped but due to her being in the middle of detaching Spidey from chains she regained her composure fairly quickly.

Matt got back to business quickly, “Pete. Spidey, it’s me. It’s Double D.” He hated that damned nickname but Peter was oddly attached to it.

“Keep him steady, Red,” Frank grunted, “I almost got these damn chains off his neck.” 

Matt nodded slightly, “Spidey, I’m gonna touch your face but remember, it’s just me. You gotta keep still alright?” He moved his calloused hands so they were holding each side of Peter’s jaw. Matt was cautious to keep them near the back so that his hands wouldn’t irritate the _(still absolutely terrifying and nauseating and tearing and bloody)_ mouth situation. 

“Nngh…” It was clear that Peter was trying to make sense of what was happening due to the rising hysteria Matt could sense. _Sweat, adrenaline, copper, stomach acid, blood pumping, elevated heat levels_

“Pete, It’s Matt. Remember? Frank and Jessica are here too. We’re gonna help you get out of here, okay?”

Frank quickly finished up the last of the chains holding the poor kid’s neck up and joined Matt in kneeling in front of him. He looked over Pete’s shoulder to see Jessica almost done detaching the links _pierced into the kid’s fucking calf_ from the others that were wrapped around his body. 

“Frank,” his head snapped towards Red so fast he could hear something creak, “I’m gonna need you to help me with his mouth.” Never in a million years would Frank Castle ever admit to feeling nervous about something like this. Yet, here he was. Nervous as all-get-out over getting this torture tool of a muzzle off the poor kid in front of him. Red was smart enough not to comment on his obvious trepidation and instead moved over so they both had access to the aforementioned muzzle.

Matt moved one of his hands from Peter’s jaw to the metal piece wedged horizontally inside the boy’s mouth, “Grab the corners of the mouth and pull outwards so I can pull this out without causing further damage.”

Frank took a deep breath and did as he was told. Each hand grabbed a corner of the kid’s mouth and with a poorly concealed wince, he gingerly pulled the bleeding lips away from the metal. 

All three conscious adults in the room cringed as they heard the small whimper that came from his mouth. Matt tilted his head slightly as he heard a strange noise coming from Peter’s throat along with the whimper but he ignored it for the time being and quickly but gently pulled the metal rectangle from Spidey’s mouth. Whimpers and the scent of tears filled the air as Peter began to regain consciousness at the worst time imaginable. As soon as it was in the clear, Matt threw the damned item to the other side of the basement; far away from Peter.

Now that the metal was out of the way, Matt tuned into the noise he heard at the back of Peter’s throat. There was something else blocking it. 

Frank slowly lowered the bleeding lips before a spandex-covered hand stopped him, “What the hell are you doin’, Red?” He couldn’t stand to hear another pitiful noise come from Peter’s mouth. The Devil didn’t answer and instead pushed Frank’s hands back up. As the kid whimpered again, Frank grew angry, “Red, you better cut this shit out r-” “Frank, look into his mouth. Can you see anything?” Red asked in an urgent tone. Snapping his mouth shut as he realized that something was wrong (besides this entire shit-pile of an evening), Frank continued to keep his hands separating the small spider’s lips and peered into his mouth. Shit. It was too dark.

Frank glanced up at Jones, where she now stood staring down at Peter’s form (no doubt seeing all the damage done to the kid) that now only had three large chains holding him up. As much as it pained them to admit it, they needed the chains until the whole gag situation was taken care of. “Jones,” her head jerked up to him as she quickly threw down the bolt cutters and approached him and Red, “you gotta flashlight?” 

Not expecting that question, Jessica gave him a confused look. “Yeah I think so,” She replied before reaching into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulling out a small yet trustworthy flashlight. She passed it to Matt because Castle’s hands were busy holding Spidey's mouth open before taking up residence behind the two who were currently tending to the injured super-teen. 

Without sparing another glance at her, Frank got right back to his current task as Matt clicked the light on and aimed it towards where he knew the opening of Peter’s mouth to be. 

“Fuck. You were right, Red. There’s definitely somethin’ back there,” He could hear the vigilante next to him let out a breath of anger? Frustration? Anguish? “It’s too far back. I don’ think I can just grab it.”

Before anyone could say anything else, the injured vigilante began to jerk in his restraints. 

“Shit,” Matt cursed, “Pete! You need to calm down,” His words didn’t seem to get through to the panicking teenager as he just continued to thrash about as pained noises came from his injured mouth. 

Peter jerked his head out of Frank’s grip and continued to let out weak noises of distress. The remaining chains rattled angrily as he thrashed his damaged body around. 

Matt’s senses were once again flooded with blood as the boy re-opened some wounds his healing factor was attempting to stitch closed, “He’s hurting himself more; we need to get him to calm down.”

As Peter became more distressed, Jessica’s concealed concern became more prominent, “Come on, kid you gotta calm the fuck down” Just like Matt’s attempts, Peter ignored them and actually flinched at the sharpness of her voice _and no that did not stab her in the heart and flood her with guilt. Nope._

Each time one of their voices breached the air, the teen would flinch away as if their voices were paining him just as much as his wounds. At this realization, Matt concluded that he was an idiot.

“I’m an idiot,” He spoke aloud garnering strange looks from his fellow vigilantes. He didn’t speak again, he merely rose to a higher kneeling position and guided Peter’s head to Matt’s costumed chest until the kid’s ear was above his heart. “It’s me, Peter. It’s Matt. Frank and Jessica are here too. We are trying to help you but you need to calm down,” He coached quietly. 

Jessica and Frank waited with bated breaths as Spidey seemed to calm down. It took almost five minutes but the boy finally calmed down until he was just sniffling as tears began to roll down his face.

“Mm..Ma..?” It’s clear that his mouth was still in a lot of pain (and the blockage they discovered at the back of his throat was definitely not helping) as that was all Peter could say at the moment but they all understood.

“Yeah, buddy,” Matt’s voice was thick with emotion as he finally heard the damaged voice of the small teenager, “Listen, there’s something in your throat- you can feel it, right?” he got a small nod in response, “-and we need to get it out. But we’re gonna need your help.” Peter let out a small whine and all three felt their hearts _break_. 

Matt’s mouth wobbled, “I know-I know you’re really tired and in pain but we need to do this, pal,” It took all his strength to keep tears from falling from his eyes. 

Peter raised his head slightly in an attempt to look at Matt’s face, “E..eye..eyes..” 

Understanding what the boy meant, Matt reached a hand up to remove his Daredevil mask. At the removal of the only thing separating Matt’s unseeing milky eyes from Peter’s honey-tinged doe eyes (“Oh Matt if you could see his puppy-dog eyes right now, you would be melting.” “I don’t doubt it, Fog.” “I have the sudden urge to give him my wallet and everything else I own.” “Quit encouraging him.”) the boy seemed to wilt in resignation _and if that didn’t make his bones ache in concern-_

“Okay, buddy we’re gonna have to keep you in these chains just to make sure you don’t hurt yourself, alright?” Nod. Matt turned his head towards Frank who remained silent along with Jessica, “Frank is gonna keep your mouth open so I can try to remove whatever is in your throat.” Nod. Matt turned his head towards the scent of cheap liquor, leather, and harsh soap, “Jessica is gonna take my place right here and keep you calm, okay?” Another nod.

With that, they all began their tasks. Jessica moved into Matt’s previous position of being next to Peter’s head, "Hey, kid. I'm shit at this 'making people feel better' crap but I gotcha. Okay? I gotcha."

Frank began to calmly talk the kid through what he was doing, “I’m just gonna hold your mouth open for Red. It’ll be over quickly, squirt,” and Matt started to take up his first position of kneeling face to face with the chained teen before a fleeting thought entered his mind.

Frank startled as Red shot up and jogged to the corner of the basement, “‘Ey! The hell are you-” Red held up a bucket in his hand in lieu of an answer as he jogged back to his previous position.

“Just in case,” he answered tightly. Frank gruffly nodded and kept his hands steady as they held Peter’s mouth open. Matt set the bucket down in front of the kid and removed his gloves, “Pete, I’m gonna reach my hand in and try to get a grasp on whatever is back there, okay?,” With his mouth open, he wasn’t able to give a verbal reply but Matt was able to hear the low hum the kid gave as an affirmative.

Nodding to himself, Matt wedged his hand between Frank’s and allowed his fingers to travel down the back of the kid’s throat. Avoiding the uvula, Matt reached his fingers as far as they could go but was unable to grasp what he was now able to identify as some form of a paper ball. He let out a tense breath, “Pete. I can’t reach it with my fingers but I think I may be able to get it if I try something. It’s not gonna be fun though,” He could sense the tense looks he was receiving from his comrades along with Peter’s teary eyes burning holes into his face.

He received the “okay” through a soft hum and a slow blink that allowed a tear to cascade down his cheek.

“I’m sorry, kid,” Matt whispered using his fingers to push the previously avoided uvula. Frank and Jessica vocalized their alarm ("The hell, Red?!" "What the shit, Murdock?") as Peter began to choke and gag but he ignored them in favor of focusing on the paper ball that Peter's throat was pushing up along with whatever was in the teen’s stomach.

His fingers continued to push the tissue of the uvula until his fingers brushed against paper. Nimbly, Matt used two fingers to grasp the offending item and pull it out of Peter’s mouth. Just as his hand was removed, Peter lurched forward and released his stomach’s contents into the bucket on the ground. 

“Shit, Pete,” Jessica said in her own way of comforting that no one outside of their circle would have been able to understand. The kid’s tears were beginning to mix with his puke just as his sobs were mixed with his retching. 

Matt passed the paper ball to Frank who made quick work of unraveling the spit, vomit _and was that blood_ covered parchment.

Frank was a marine, he had no problem with bodily fluids. He’s seen grown men piss and shit themselves as he raises the barrel of his gun to their skulls. He’s vomited up somebody else’s blood and brain matter. Frank Castle had no problem with bodily fluids.

Except this piece of fucking paper was covered with _a kid’s_ vomit and saliva and _yep that’s blood_.

With fingers that were shaking with anger for those who did this to the kid (“Spider-Man! My name is Spider-Man. Not ‘kid’!” “Yeah, whatever you say, kid.”), Frank unraveled the ball of paper. 

Matt was able to sense the moment that Frank read whatever was on the paper because of the way his heart stuttered, “What? What’s it say?”

Jessica looked over at them from where she was trying her damned-est to comfort the child who was crying and vomiting and _hurting_ , “Are you shitting me? The limp-dicks left a message?” Her voice rose with anger. Whoever hurt the kid _their kid_ left a fucking message in the back of his throat? Jessica didn’t even want to think of them holding Spidey’s head and forcing him to swallow the paper. She really didn’t.

“Frank,” Red’s curt tone cut through his swarming thoughts, “what does it say?” Frank swallowed the dryness that encompassed his throat,

“It shouldn’t talk so much. You should have heard how it screamed as we broke it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be adding 'Dehumanization' to the tags.


	4. Hide & Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick snippet of Peter's side to what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really short chapter because I'm gonna be posting the next one sooner than usual and I really wanted to show a little bit of Peter's side. We'll see more of what happened during the six days while Peter's recovering.
> 
> If any of y’all want to talk Marvel, feel free to add me on discord (specter💚#7673) I was just thinking of a Daredevil/Pokemon AU and I really want to talk to someone about it lmao

**Six Days Prior…**

“I don’t remember this being in the ‘Superheroing Handbook for Super Teenagers Who Just So Happen to be Superheros’,” Peter remarked as he avoided yet another super creepy totally not suspicious-looking van that has been following him for the last four blocks. 

It was just supposed to be another normal Tuesday. Well, a normal Tuesday for Spider-Man standards. Peter Parker finished school and quickly switched into his spandex suit so he could start his patrol early. The teenager planned on stopping by Delmar’s later that evening because Murph loves the texture of his Spider-Man suit before stopping on the roof that he and Double-D meet up on top of. He met up with the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen last night for a quick patrol team-up with Mr. Cage that ended in all three of them eating pizza on a park bench. Well, Peter and Luke ate pizza. Matt didn’t like the number of preservatives that particular pizza-joint used for their sauce so he was feeding his slice to a stray cat.

That was one thing that Peter has learned about Daredevil since he started teaming up with him, the man loves cats. The vigilante who cripples grown men with his bare fists and makes them pee themselves out of fear has a soft spot for lost kittens. Who would have thunk it?

Peter stopped two muggings before his spidey-sense (“Do you actually call it that?” “I mean...yeah? What would you call it?” “Definitely not that,” “Leave the kid alone, Matt.”) warned him that someone was following him. 

Spider-Man has had a few super fans who would follow him around while on patrol but this was different. This was his senses screaming _”Get out! Hide! Run! Get help!”_ so he was a little bit worried. 

Peter continued his patrol as normal until his spidey-sense was thundering against his skull. It was at that moment that he was able to spot a black van following along the road wherever he swung. 

“Huh,” he thought aloud, “that’s a new one.”

Taking the tailing van as a sign to kick it up a notch, Peter started to swing faster and sprint across every rooftop he came in contact with until the van was no longer in sight. After thirty minutes of attempting to shake the creepy van, Peter stopped on a library rooftop to regain his breath and calm his heart. There was no way a normal car could have followed him there especially in New York traffic.

His spidey-sense drummed.

_No fuc_ \- (“Watch your fucking language, Parker,” “Why does Miss Jones get to swear then?” “Peter, Jessica is a grown woman who I have no authority over,” “And don’t you fucking forget it, Counselor.”) - _freaking way_.

This pattern continued into the evening. Spider-Man would quickly evade a mysterious black van and spend a lot of time and energy doing so just to be met with another mysterious black van. Five hours into this extreme game of chicken, Peter was feeling exhausted. It was almost midnight which means curfew and he hasn’t even met up with Daredevil yet. 

Peter landed on a ledge of a tall building that seemed to belong to a printing company (If Matt were here he’d say the building smelled like ink or he could hear the trees screaming as they turned into paper or something like that) and sat there for hardly a whole minute before he saw a van.

“This is ridiculous,” he whispered to himself because it really was ridiculous. 

There was no way he could go back to his apartment otherwise he would be leading whoever is following him back to May and there’s no way his identity would stay hidden. If he went to get help from Daredevil or Miss Jones or Mr. Cage or Mr. Rand or even Mr. Castle then they would be in danger too! He couldn’t do that to them.

With that thought, Peter came to the conclusion that there was only one way to resolve this issue. Jumping off of the ledge he was residing on, he landed on the roof of the black van before back-slipping off and landing on the sidewalk next to it. Peter approached the sliding door and quickly tore it open. 

Expecting to see the van’s inhabitants after opening the door, the sixteen-year-old was shocked to find the vehicle empty, “What the hell…” Stepping into the empty car, Peter saw nobody inside, not even in the driver’s seat.

He was about to back out of the van when a large metal door replaced the door he ripped off. “Oh no,” quickly searching for a weak-spot on the thick metal that he soon realized was vibranium, Peter was distracted by a mechanical ‘whirring’ noise. Looking to his left, he spotted a small hole opening up from the floor which allowed a small gun-like machine to rise from the floor and aim towards him.

“Shit.”

It was obvious that, had he not spent the past five hours running and swinging across the city as fast as he could to avoid the creepy stalker vans, Spider-Man could have totally gotten out of this situation. But as fate would have it, he spent the past five hours running and swinging across the city as fast as he could to avoid the creepy stalker vans.

Peter’s last memory before everything went dark was, “I am so getting grounded,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I'm sorry if the POV I use is kind of confusing. It's not first person but I like to leak the thoughts of the characters into it as you have seen already.


	5. Classification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they all process the implications behind the message they found, Matt focuses on a peculiar scent coming from Peter and the three vigilantes finally get their wounded spider out of the basement.

_“Are you shitting me? The limp-dicks left a message?” Her voice rose with anger. Whoever hurt the kid their kid left a fucking message in the back of his throat? Jessica didn’t even want to think of them holding Spidey’s head and forcing him to swallow the paper. She really didn’t._

_“Frank,” Red’s curt tone cut through his swarming thoughts, “what does it say?” Frank swallowed the dryness that encompassed his throat,_

_“It shouldn’t talk so much. You should have heard how it screamed as we broke it.”_

The kid whimpered as he heard those words and Frank felt a sense of helplessness come over him. Those bastards hurt the kid but it was obvious that whoever was in charge of the whole operation wasn’t one of the assholes currently lying unconscious on the basement floor. 

Thinking back to his previous observation of how they had Peter chained up like a dog before a fight, Frank couldn’t help but connect it to the note. 

They talked about the kid like he wasn’t human. And if Red’s previous claims about this certain operation targeting mutants, they really didn’t think of him as a human either. 

Red seemed to come to this same conclusion as him because the look that came over his now unmasked face held no trace of the altar boy, do-gooder, Matthew Murdock; that was The Devil ready to beat the shit out of whoever hurt their kid. 

_and if the thought of being responsible for another child didn’t pull at Frank’s heart that he thought would never be able to care about stuff like that again-_

Jessica could have sworn her heart stopped as she heard Frank relay the message to them. They kept Peter _(Spider-Man, Spidey, little spider, Pete, Parker, squirt, kid, pain in my ass)_ for six fucking days and did God knows what to him. She could faintly remember a conversation she heard between the kid and Matt that seemed to be about how fast he could heal and _if a bruise heals in a day for him and he’s covered in bruises right now then what did they do for six days_

Six days where he was left vulnerable to people who wanted to hurt him. Hurt a child. There’s no doubt that he cried or asked for help or asked them to stop because it was _six days of them torturing him_

Jessica could still see the chain links in his calves that she separated from the other chains. If she had Matt’s senses, she’s sure that her ears would be met with the sound of the kid’s _(the child’s)_ flesh trying to knit itself together around the piercing chain links. 

She was still holding Peter in her arms as he whimpered and cried into the bucket of vomit. As he let out a particularly strong sob, his body jostled and the tinkling of chains stabbed her ears like a violent crash of waves on a beach. A rocky beach. That any sane person wouldn’t dare walk on barefoot. And all of Jessica’s anger came flooding in like gross, bitter, salty, ocean water.

Gently releasing Peter from her grasp and making sure that Murdock had a grip on him, Jessica grasped the chains that still held the sixteen-year-old kid _(he’s a kid Jesus he’s just a kid-)_ and began to pull them apart as gently as an angry woman with super strength could. 

_Main Street_

The chains popped as she dislocated them from the structural beams on the ceiling.

_Birch Street_

Murdock pulled Pete into a hug as his retching stopped and the only sound coming from him were his sobs.

_Higgins Drive_

With a final ‘pop’ the chains were now laying limply on the kid’s body. 

_Cobalt Lane_

Castle wordlessly helped her remove all of the remaining chains from the small body in front of them.

_Main Street_

Jessica’s body froze as they were now able to see Peter’s whole body that was covered with chains.

_Birch Street_

Tears filled her eyes and Jessica allowed her emotions to take over as she stomped out of the basement.

_Higgins Dri-_

As Jessica and Frank uncovered Peter’s body (don’t think like that it sounds like he’s just a dead body and he’s alive. His heartbeat is pulsing in your ears snap out of it), Matt’s senses were flooded with the sounds of torn flesh and creaking bones and lungs _that were not supposed to sound like that_ and the smell of blood and _infection_ and tears and Matt could _taste_ the sweat and- _shit what did they give him._

There was a startling sweet scent coming from Peter’s sweat that was so strong, he wondered if Frank or Jessica could smell it. The scent was so familiar that he had to pause for a second to remember what it was.

(“Oh crap, D, I think they gave her something,” Peter said as he approached the red-haired woman. She seemed to be just a few years older than himself. 

Matt stepped away from the man he just knocked out with his billy-clubs in favor of walking towards the other vigilante in the alley. He joined Peter in squatting down next to the girl they just saved from being shoved into a van.

Subtly sniffing the air, Matt’s senses were assaulted with sweet smell, “I can’t say I recognize whatever it is,” he told Spider-Man.

The younger nodded, “Yeah I thought it was chloroform at first but it smells…stronger than that,” Matt hummed in agreement before getting up and striding over to the first man they knocked down.

The man’s heart rate picked up, letting him know that the man was waking up from the beating he took. 

“Hhng…” The lowlife was snapped out of drowsiness as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen picked him up by the collar of his shirt and shoved him into the brick wall of the alley, “‘ey, man! What the fuck you think you’re-”

“Shut up! What did you give her?” Daredevil growled in his face.

“Dude lemme-”

“I said _shut up_ ,” He slammed the thug back into the wall but this time, Matt used his forearm to put pressure on the man’s throat, “and answer me. What did you give her?” The man whimpered under the added pressure, “Talk!”

“Okay! O-okay! Just stop cho-choking me, man!” Matt eased some of the pressure on his neck, “Jesus, okay. We just gave her what the dude who hired us gave us. It-It’s some kind o’ mutation tranq!”

Matt could sense Peter tense behind him at the mention of mutations and decided he needed to get all the information he could, “You mean it tranquilizes mutations?”

The thug nodded, “Yeah man! He-he said that it would, like, I don’t know, li-like make it so the mutant can’t use their-their mutation for a while,” Matt nodded for the man to continue, “Look man I don’t-I don’t know anything else I swear!” Matt grit his teeth and let out a low noise of frustration, “I swear! The dude ju-just talked to us through this!” At that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a burner phone. Matt quickly grabbed it and punched the guy in the temple hard enough to knock him out.

“Oof did you really have to hit him that hard?” Matt ignored Peter and instead tossed him the phone and kneeled in front of the girl who was still unconscious.

“Use that phone to call the police and tell them to bring an ambulance,” He focused his senses on the breaths coming from the girl’s lungs and the smell of the sweat falling from her face.

“Hey, uh, Double D?” Matt turned his head to Peter’s tentative voice, “that mutant tranquilizer? Do you, uh, think it would work on me?” The fear in the boy’s voice, no matter how hard he tried to cover it, was palpable to Matt. He could hear it in the way the teen shuffles weight between his feet and anxiously rubs his hand on the back of his neck.

It was obvious to anyone who hung out with Spider-Man enough that he was insecure about his biological status. Professionals like Bruce Banner and Helen Cho have said that Peter’s DNA categorizes him as a mutant no matter how he acquired said DNA. The kid takes everything to heart. So whenever he gets involved with mutant-related cases, it’s painfully clear that the situation weighs down on him. 

Thinking carefully of his next words, Matt replied, “I think that there is the chance that it may not affect you, especially with your metabolism, but if you’re ever on a patrol and you come in contact with this stuff, don’t take any chances,” Peter seemed to regain some of his confidence as he firmly nodded in reply before remembering who he was talking to and replied with a small, ‘okay’. 

Matt got up as he heard sirens approaching. A few seconds later and he could tell that Peter heard them too, “Let’s go, Spidey,”)

Matt cursed aloud as he recalled where he recognized that smell from, “Damn it,”

Jessica looked towards him as Frank removed his jacket and put it on Peter’s wounded back, “What is it, Murdock?”

“They gave him some kind of mutation tranquilizer,” He nearly snarled.

“What?” Jessica asked sharply. Frank’s anger seemed to deepen at this news.

“Spidey and I encountered it a month or two back but we stopped investigating when no new cases popped up. I’ll tell you more about it and my theories once we get out of here,” Matt finished his explanation. 

Jessica was unsatisfied with the answer but dropped it for the time being. Murdock was right, they had to get the kid out of there first.

Frank grunted in affirmation, “I got ‘im,” before gently picking Peter up from the ground making sure that the jacket he wrapped around the kid’s shoulders stayed on. 

Peter let out small noises of pain as Frank situated him in his arms but he didn’t flinch away. 

Matt put his mask back on, “We can take him back to my place?” he suggested. 

“Nah, not yet,” Frank argued, “I got a safe house close by with medical supplies. We can fix ‘im up a little bit and go to your place tomorrow,” 

At that, Jessica led them out of the basement and made sure the close was clear. 

As they left the basement, Jessica couldn’t help but feel as if the real trouble was just beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAA THEY'RE OUT OF THE BASEMENT!!! The comfort will be starting soon don't worry :)
> 
> If y'all were wondering why I do run-on sentences a lot, it's because I have been told that run-ons are overwhelming and I really wanted to convey how they're feeling particularly overwhelmed or panic-y.


	6. Watercolor Skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank, Jessica, and Matt make their way to the safe house and begin to see the extent of Peter's injuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the late update but I'm moving to a new state in a week!!! and I'm trying to work on as many chapters as possible before the moving day! I already have a couple planned out but if there are any specific ideas or scenarios y'all had, let me know and I may be able to add it in! I really don't see this fic ending any time soon because of how much I love it but I have an important question:
> 
> Should I add the MCU Avengers in or should I make a sequel story (one-shot or two-shot) once this is over where they find out about what happened?
> 
> ALSO Should I write in more Foggy and maybe some Ned?  
> I really want to hear your opinions! :D

“Careful!”

“Red, tell you what, when you’re the one carrying the unconscious spider-brat, you can control how he’s carried. Sound good?”

“Fine, asshole, I was-”

“Ah, shit! Dammit! Sonovabitch!”

“-talking about the low-hanging pipe your big head was-”

“Oh, you wanna talk about big heads?”

“Hey! Can you two reel your dicks back in your pants for a quick second and focus on the child who is waiting on our help?” The two men had the gall to look ashamed of their actions. Well, Castle did. Murdock still had that stupid helmet-mask thing covering half his freaking face so Jessica couldn’t get a good read on him. Bastard. “Castle, where do we go now? You’re the one who knows where we’re going, remember?” 

“I’m sure Red could tell you by smelling my clothes or some weird shit-”

“Oh grow the fuck up, Frank!”

Jessica groaned as the two began to argue again. Sure Frank and Matt have definitely improved in the “getting along” department, but their little spats still annoyed the shit out of all the New York vigilantes. They tried their best not to argue in front of Peter because it made the kid sad. 

_It made the kid sad_. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and The Punisher stopped arguing around Spider-Man _because it upset him_.

If that didn’t show how tightly wound around the Spider-Kid’s sticky finger they were, then Jessica didn’t know what would. That’s a lie. She could recount multiple events that show how truly whipped all of the _dangerous vigilantes, protectors of New York_ were because of this sixteen-year-old child who should never have been forced into this crowd but, well, there they were.

The two grown men cut themselves off as a small noise broke the tension. A small whimper. Like a kicked puppy. _Jesus, they were in it deep_.

Matt got closer to the wounded form in Frank’s arms, “Spidey, are you awake?” Peter didn’t open his eyes in response but he did make another small noise. This one was more like a raspy groan. “I don’t think he’s regained complete consciousness. We should get to the safe house before he does, though,” Matt could hear a scoff behind him and knew it was from Jessica. Yeah, he was an ass for arguing with Frank during such an important time.

There was a kid who they all cared for, injured, and tormented, and in need of their help, yet he decided to get in a pissing contest with Frank. Dammit, he knew better than that. He could hear Stick’s voice in his head scolding him for having attachments, for caring for the kid. But then he could hear Peter’s voice in his head. 

_“Hey, Mr. M-uh I mean Mr. Daredevil! Look at this cool flip that Danny taught me!”_

_“Mr. Murdock, Mr. Foggy told me to ask you about avocados but I’m not sure why.”_

_“My Aunt said I can stay out past curfew if I promise to stick with you! I promise I’ll stay out of your way and it’s totally okay if you say no! Don’t feel pressured to say yes but, like, it would be super cool if you did. But again, you really don’t have t-”_

And Matt would much rather listen to Peter’s innocent voice full of childish curiosity and a background hum of excitement and too fast everything holy cow kid you're gonna have a heart attack calm down than Stick’s voice haunting his mind like a foul stench.

“We’re not far from the safe house,” Frank’s gruff voice broke through the quiet like thunder. 

Matt nodded and Jess sighed in response but still followed them as Frank led the way down dark back-alleys that any sane person would avoid. 

As they approached the entrance to the shabby apartment building, Matt hesitated outside, “Open a window when you get to the apartment, I’ll go through there,” 

Frank scoffed, “What? Afraid some meth-head is gonna see you in your PJ’s and call the cops?” 

Matt shook his head, “I’ll be waiting on the fire-escape,” Jessica nodded but Frank made a strange motion with his head and-yep he was definitely rolling his eyes. With that, Matt sprinted and jumped up onto the first level of the fire-escape.

Frank shook his head in disbelief. Why Red didn’t want to follow them into the apartment was a mystery to him. Maybe he just wanted something to be mad at. Someone to punch. Someone to take his anger out on because those assholes in the basement didn’t have enough of their faces caved in or bullets in the most sensitive areas of their bodies for his liking. 

Logically, he knew that the Devil cared about the kid. He knew that the two had a connection that reminded him of Billy and Frank Jr. Minus the whole _‘betraying him and his children’_ thing. 

Faintly, Frank begins to wonder whether or not Peter and Frankie would be friends. 

Deftly leading Jones into the rotting building, he pushed those thoughts out of his head. The bullet in his brain made it easy to forget simple things but hard to forget the truly haunting memories that sometimes he prayed to Red’s God to remove from his head.

Making sure the jacket he put over Parker’s body was covering up his suit, Frank began to march into the decrepit building.

Jessica ignored the unconscious bodies that littered the hallways of the building and dutifully followed behind the bulky ex-marine. She and Frank had a weird relationship at first until they came to a mutual understanding. Neither of them really wanted to be part of this vigilante crap, but they were knee-deep in it now. And sure they both had some trauma, but who didn’t? Their mutual understanding of unhealthy coping mechanisms made their interactions interesting, to say the least.

And then they all wound up aiding and abetting a teenage superpowered vigilante and became some kind of cheesy sitcom group.

Frank finally stopped climbing the stairs on the fourth floor and approached a door with a crappy sticker of the number “ **405** ” slapped on it haphazardly. Not even bothering to unlock the shitty door, Frank stuck his foot out and kicked it open. At Jessica’s raised eyebrow, he shrugged, “It’s barely even a door,” he explained as he walked into the dingy apartment, “ and ‘sides, not like I got nothin’ to steal,” 

Jessica shrugged in agreement and made her way over to one of the three windows in the entire apartment and opened it. Not even ten seconds passed before she heard the rattling of the rusty fire-escape and saw the red horns of the Devil making his way up. Turning back to Castle, Jessica watched as he gently lowered Pete to the couch. She couldn’t help but wince as the small boy let out a low whine once he was completely spread on the (no doubt horrible smelling) couch in the Punisher’s living room/kitchen/dining room. 

Jessica swore as Matt landed next to her in a crouch, “Shit, Murdock! You can’t just do your ninja crap whenever you want,” He raised a corner of his mouth into a smirk, “smug bastard.”

“‘Ey! Either of you know how to get this thing off ‘im?” Frank asked as he hesitantly pawed at the Spider-Man suit, “Not a damn zipper in sight,” he grumbled.

Matt quickly made his way over and pressed down on the small spider emblem in the center of Spider-Man’s chest, having seen Peter do it a couple of times before. He could hear a small _‘whirring’_ noise as the suit expanded around Peter’s body, making it so they could remove it.

Jessica and Frank held their breaths as Matt gingerly peeled the red and blue suit from the boy’s body. Logically, they knew that there had to be a lot of injuries hidden under the suit but nobody in the room really wanted to be reminded of them. 

Matt couldn’t see the bruises that painted the teenager’s skin like a symphony of watercolors but he could hear the blood vessels pulsing along with his muscles and winced as Peter’s body seemed to sing a song of pain. He could hear the hum of Peter's lungs that were normally so full of life and- ("Geez can you believe the lungs on this kid? I don't think he's stopped talking since you let him in here," "Oh trust me, Fog, this is nothing,")- now they sounded like the fluttering of a flag in the wind. Only one thing was running through Matt's mind at that moment: _"Dear God, please don't take him,"_

Jessica immediately felt the need to down a bottle of bourbon as her eyes settled on the mottled chest of the sixteen-year-old that she became attached to (of fucking course she would get attached to a kid who threw himself into dangerous situations at every chance he got). Bruises in various stages of healing pelted his body that was now only covered with some shorts that she’s only seen worn by those suburban pricks who bike everywhere in their dweeby get-ups. Red mixed with blue and purple as she finally registered the lacerations and holes riddling his body alongside the busted open red blood cells.

Frank swore and dragged his intertwined hands over his head and through his short hair. He knew the kid was in rough shape. Hell, he could feel the blood leaking onto him as he carried him, but seeing the extent of the damage was a whole other thing. This was another child whose life was now in his hands. Sure, Red had some experience stitching himself back together- but out of the three adults in the room, Frank was the only one with some sort of medical training and with functioning eyes (no offense, Red). Frank sharply exhaled as he lowered his arms and straightened out his shoulders, “We’re gonna need more than a couple band-aids to fix this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	7. Gauze & Gore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang patch up Peter to the best of their (albeit limited) abilities and discuss theories revolving around the trafficking group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nobody reads these but:
> 
> I try to keep a minimum of 1,250 words per chapter (say as I finish writing Chapter 8 which is 2000 words long) not only to keep the story progressing in a healthy way but also to push myself to consistently write. This fic is meant to be a summer project to me that I'm taking up while moving and transferring colleges so please bear with me. I will try to make an update schedule now that I have three chapters complete at the moment so there will not be a lack of updates just because I'm moving and unpacking :D
> 
> Thank you so much for all of your support! I have now reached over 10,000 words and over 1,000 hits! I really love how this fic is turning out and I hope you guys will love it as much as I do as the story progresses. <3

Frank had only been patching the kid up for forty-five minutes and he already looked like the mummy he’d seen on the cover of one of Leo’s Magic Tree-House books. He could fondly remember praising her for reading four of those things in a week. 

A lot of Webhead's injuries were fixable with some gauze and some tape. The major ones, like the large incisions on his back and the chain-link, threaded through his calves needed stitches. He’d have to get a closer look at the kid’s mouth to see if there was any damage in that area but so far, Red was a pretty good x-ray. The other man sat next to him with his mask now removed and helped to gently maneuver the kid in every-which-way he needed to properly dress his wounds. 

“He’s got a broken rib-no wait- two broken ribs that are putting pressure on his lungs and giving him some trouble breathing,”

Frank grunted in acknowledgment and loosened up some of the gauze wraps he’d placed on some smaller lacerations. Wasn’t much he could do to treat a broken rib here except ice it and keep it loose. 

“I can smell some blood on the back of his head,” Red informed him. Frank nodded and proceeded to pull the boy’s head forward to get a better look.

“I still think that’s weird as hell,” Jones informed them from her corner. Frank wasn’t looking at her directly but he could tell she was waiting anxiously for someone to tell her how to help or to get the fuck out. Red could probably smell her nervousness or some shit.

After bandaging the head wound, Frank addressed her, “Find a piece of paper and a pen and write what I tell you,” Nobody moved. He raised his head to level her with an unimpressed look.

“Oh,” she stood up straight, “you meant me?” Her nerves were fried so Frank didn’t give her more shit over her small mistake but Red rolled his head slowly to her and raised his eyebrows. Realizing how dumb of a question she asked, Jones blushed and began to look around the room for the items he requested. Frank chortled and shook his head as Red rolled his head back to face the vigilante they were putting back together.

Frank reached into a bag he brought out from the kitchen-area earlier, “Hold ‘im so his back’s to me but don’t lay ‘im on those ribs, got it?” he nearly demanded as he finally found the stitch-kit in his bag. 

Matt grunted but followed Frank’s command, keeping his words to himself. He hated taking orders from the marine but understood that Peter was more important than some petty back-and-forth arguments. Moving the boy’s body so he was nearly hugging him, Matt gave Frank access to the large lacerations on his back.

Doing his best to block out the harsh scent of blood, Matt reached his senses further into the wounds in an attempt to decipher what exactly caused them. The taste of authentic leather fluttered against his tongue. It was paired with the scent of metal that built an image of a weapon in his mind that Matt shuddered thinking of.

_A whip._

The thought of a whip being used on Peter made bile rise in his throat. Swallowing it down, Matt couldn’t help the feral growl that came from deep in his throat causing Frank and Jess to look at him in question. Matt had to clear his throat before speaking in fear of his voice shaking, “The marks on his back. They’re from a whip, aren’t they?” 

He figured Frank may have already solved that puzzle. He had been a marine and had seen countless prisoners of war. Victims of _torture_. So there was no way he didn’t recognize the distinctive marks emblazoned across the boy’s back. 

Frank sat back and Matt could sense him looking down at his blood-covered hands. The marine’s heart stuttered after inhaling through his nose, no doubt smelling the metal tang of the blood. That was Peter’s blood. Matt could smell it and was startled to realize that, upon closer inspection, it smelled different. Spider-Man was a mutant. They all knew this. His DNA was mutated and fused with that of a spider. Of course, his blood would smell different. The startling aspect of this was that _this was Peter_.

This wasn’t Spider-Man hurt on his couch with a scrape or two that were healed by the next morning. This was Peter Parker. A sixteen-year-old genius who asked permission to curse and told him about helping old ladies and naming stray cats. This was-

(“Woah that was so cool! When you did that kick and then you hit him with your sticks-” “They’re billy clubs,” “-and then you headbutt him which I bet hurt a lot you know, considering the horns. But holy cow, Double-D that was wicked!”

“Hey, Mr. Murdock?” “Pete, I told you, just call me Matt,” “Mr. Murdock why does Ms. Jones smell like paint thinner?”

“What’s eating you, kid? I can tell something’s up.” “Why does Mr. Castle always seem sad?” “Oh...well...he lost some people who were very important to him.” “His family, right?” “Yeah, kid. He lost them all on the same day,” “I hope one day he isn’t so sad anymore,” “...Me too, Pete.”)

Peter Parker whose heart was too big for his body. He had a talk with May about it. About how the kid cared too much about everyone and everything. She told him that he’s always been like that. Matt didn’t need his sense of hearing to know that it was the truth. 

The kid put his heart into everything and now he’s sitting on an old sofa bleeding out. Shows how fate feels about heroes.

Tuning back into present time, Matt could sense the freshly stitched whip marks, Frank still staring at his blood-soaked hands, Jessica leaning against a wall with an old take-out receipt (Chinese? No. Japanese.) and a pen ready to take notes, the gauze staunching most of the wounds, the- what? 

Matt cocked his head and pushed his senses out. He was still holding the teenager so it was easy to pinpoint what area was making his senses go off. Peter’s left arm. Near the shoulder. An abnormal amount of heat was radiating off of it as the inflamed skin pulsed underneath Matt’s hand. 

“-ain meds. Yeah, the kid’s definitely gonna need some pain meds-” Jessica was taking notes for Frank as he spouted a list of stuff they needed for further treatment. Matt shook off their conversation and once again focused on the pulsing wound.

The scent coming off of the offending wound was sour. Like spoiled milk.

“Uh...some disinfectant for sure-”

Disinfectant. Infection. His arm was infected.

_Shit._

“Frank,” Matt barked, he could sense the man jerk his head towards him as he stopped whatever he was saying mid-sentence, “his left arm. It’s infected,” Frank swore and crouch-walked towards Matt who moved his arm out of the way for the marine to see.

“Okay it ain’t too bad yet, we just need to clean it,” Frank sighed in relief but Matt could still sense the worry coming from the older man. He heard the sharp scratching of pen against paper and knew that Jess underlined ‘disinfectant’.

There may not be any cause for alarm with the infection at the moment, but he'd keep an ear out for it. 

As a silence washed over them, they all seemed to take a moment to get lost in their heads. Taking this time to think over the whole night, Frank came to a realization, “So those asshats aren’t just traffickers, they traffic mutants?”

Jessica nodded, “Yeah, it seems like it. Whatever they dosed the kid with seems like it was made to counter his metabolism,” Speaking of which when the hell was that stuff supposed to wear off? They’ve had the kid on the couch for what, three hours? Plus he was semi-conscious during some moments in the basement. The thoughts mulled together in her mind.

Matt agreed, “From what Spidey and I observed a few months back, it seems like they target mutants and cater the tranquilizers to the exact mutations of whoever they're targeting,” he observed, “but that still doesn’t tell us why they want mutants specifically and what they are doing with them.” He finished with irritation leaking in his voice.

Frank’s trigger finger began to recoil into itself, “I think I got an idea of what they’re doin’,” He waited for the other conscious occupants of his shitty apartment to turn towards him before telling them his theory, “I think they were gonna use 'em in cage fights.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't be afraid to leave a comment and tell me what you thought of the chapter :D


	8. Spinning Webs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's thoughts run rampant in his mind and he regains consciousness temporarily while the other three in the room spitball theories about the traffickers.
> 
> Matt understands he has to make a difficult decision, Jessica begins to understand how emotional this situation is, and Frank comes to a not-so startling realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels so good to be ahead of my updating schedule! So far, my move is going smoothly and I'm excited to get to the new house! My only worries are whether or not my plants will make the trip :(
> 
> ANYWHO  
> I hope y'all enjoy this chapter and Peter's concerning thoughts!  
> Again, thank you so much for the support this fic has received. I really didn't imagine getting more than like,,, 10 kudos lol
> 
> WARNING: I tried to add in some humor but I am shit at writing humor so um,,warning for a joke about having intercourse with a bee?? I guess??

A hurricane reigned his mind. His irrational thoughts spiraled around his logical analysis. Like a cocoon of truth and deception. He wasn’t sure which was reality.

Okay, Peter. Think. What happened before this?

He thought back to the vans. The weird black vans that followed him throughout patrol. He was supposed to meet with Double-D. There was something sharp in his neck. Like a pinch and then nothing.

Nothing.

Why couldn’t he remember?

What happened?

Where was he now?

What were those noises?

Wait. He could hear voices. Maybe if he focused a little bit harder, he would be able to understand the words.

Peter was wading through his consciousness and it felt like he was swimming in honey.

Like that one scene in the Bee Movie where the guy jumped in the big thing of honey when they shut down honey production. Yeah. That scene. 

That thought seemed to have summoned a memory as Peter remembered watching the Bee Movie with Mr. Murdock, Mr. Foggy, Ms. Page, Mr. Rand, Mr. Cage, and Ms. Jones. They turned on audio description until they all made fun of it so Mr. Foggy took over the descriptions for Mr. Murdock. Although, they all ended up mostly paying attention to his version as he mocked the movie and made them all laugh. 

(“And then the lady fucked the bee, Matt.” “Foggy there are children around,” “She. Fucked. The. Bee.”)

The fond memory seemingly propelled Peter into consciousness as the voices became clearer.

 _”You really think they were gonna do that with a bunch of kids?”_ Was that Ms. Jones? When did she get here?

 _“I don’t think they knew he’s a kid. They kept his mask on, ‘member?”_ Mr. Castle? Wow, he hadn’t spoken to the ex-marine in weeks. Why was he here with Ms. Jones?

 _“When I listened in on them from the rooftop, the two in charge said that their boss wanted to ‘send a message’.”_ Oh, shoot that was Mr. Murdock! He missed their meet-up! Crap he was probably irritated. Maybe he could pretend to be asleep for just a little while longer.

Someone made a grunting noise, probably Mr. Castle. 

_“Don’t forget the note those fuckwads left shoved down the kid’s throat,”_ Yep definitely Mr. Castle. Wait. ‘The kid’. Mr. Castle only called him that. Hell, most of the neighborhood vigilantes called him that no matter how much he told them he hated it.

A note? Oh. Was that why his throat was so sore? Oh god.

The memories came rushing back to him.

 _“Peter?”_

The whip. The chains. Hands down his throat. Vomit rising into his mouth before they put the metal in. Sharp pain on the corners of his mouth. 

_“Kid, can you hear me?”_

Blood. He could taste blood. He could smell blood. He could feel blood. 

_“Peter, your pulse is picking up, you need to calm down,”_

He could hear his pulse in his ears overtaking his senses like the beat of a drum as it rose in volume and aggression until all he could hear was blood pulsing and yelling and crying and screaming and-

_“Pete!”_

He gasped awake and immediately began to thrash.

There were hands touching him. Someone was holding him to their chest. Not a good touch. Never a good touch. 

He fought against the hands but pain consumed him like a fire. His back felt like he had just been dragged through a street made of coals. Flames licked at his back and entered the vulnerable spots of his damaged body. His left arm felt like a molten knife had been dragged across it and his calves felt as if coals were placed on them.

Why was everything so hot? Who was talking to him? Where was he? 

Peter’s brain tried to answer all those questions with all the sensory input that flooded his already sensitive mind.

Too much.

It was too much.

Peter was once again saddled in the dark curtains of unconsciousness.

************

”You really think they were gonna do that with a bunch of kids?” Jessica asked skeptically.

Frank shook his head in thought, “I don’t think they knew he’s a kid. They kept his mask on, ‘member?” Jessica hummed in realization. Spider-Man’s mask was still on when they got there so they had no reason to believe that the psychopaths who took the kid knew he was...well… a kid.

Matt let out an irritated scowl, “When I listened in on them from the rooftop, the two in charge said that their boss wanted to ‘send a message’.” The irritation wasn’t directed towards either of his counterparts and they knew that. It was a difficult situation that they wanted to solve as quickly as they could but the assholes involved made it more difficult than they had suspected.

It was just supposed to be a trafficking raid. They’d stopped dozens of those before.

But then they had to go and make it personal.

Frank made a noise full of barely contained anger, “Don’t forget the note those fuckwads left shoved down the kid’s throat,” His trigger finger was aching for a shot at the rest of the guys involved.

Jessica opened her mouth about to throw in her two (probably very aggressive) cents when-

_“N...no..”_

Her attention was stolen by the form in Murdock’s hands beginning to push his way into consciousness.

“Peter?” Matt called tentatively, not removing his arms from around the injured teen.

The sixteen-year-old’s distress seemed to only grow with time as his eyebrows creased with tension and his heart rate spiked.

“Kid, can you hear me?” Frank asked. He’d seen soldiers wake up from nightmares like this. ‘Shellshock’ is what they called it but thanks to Curtis, Frank knew it as ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’. The thought of a child having something that made grown men crumble as ghosts haunted their minds at night made him a different type of upset. The upset when Lisa had her first bad dream. He wanted to protect the kid but he couldn’t protect him from his own mind...

“Peter, your pulse is picking up, you need to calm down,” Matt spoke to him softly.

As Pete’s eyes leaked with tears, Jessica began to understand what he was experiencing. It was a flashback. He was remembering whatever happened to him. Or, at least, bits and pieces. There was no way he would be able to retain all of his memories from the past six days right now.

Matt’s ears were drumming against his skull as Peter’s pulse rose, “Pete!”

The small boy’s body shot up and wrestled with Red’s arms. Frank looked into his now open eyes and was unsettled by the far-away look that haunted such a young person. No child should ever have that look on their face.

Matt refused to let go of the struggling kid as he would clearly hurt himself if he was released, “Peter. Spidey. Kid. It’s Matt. You need to breathe, okay? Frank and Jessica are here too. You’re not there anymore, okay? You’re not with them anymore,” He whispered into Peter’s ear.

He thought his words worked until Peter’s heartbeat reached a crescendo and his mind gave up its attempts at keeping him conscious. 

Pete’s body sagged into him once again and Matt made a mental note to make the boy eat more. 

Nobody spoke. They all just stared at the now sleeping vigilante who had tears leaking from his eyes. 

Jessica clicked her pen, “I’m gonna go get the stuff,” her voice cracked but neither Castle nor Murdock mentioned it and she was secretly very grateful for it. They-well-Murdock knew how she felt about emotions and Castle may not know but he definitely seemed like he could relate. However, the soft look he got on his face whenever Pete would go on a tangent about God knows what was hard to ignore. He may be like her in some ways but the Punisher definitely had a soft spot for kids. Jessica did too but she would never admit to it. 

As Jessica shuffled out of the apartment, Matt passed Peter’s unconscious body to Frank who made a noise of confusion, “I gotta make some calls,” he choked out before stepping onto the fire-escape, not even caring about his lack of mask.

Matt held his phone in his hand and contemplated who to call first. On the one hand, he wanted to call May and tell her everything that happened. Her nephew was hurt and traumatized and bleeding and she had a right to know. But on the other hand, he knew that it was Spider-Man business and Peter really didn’t want his aunt getting caught up in it.

Plus, if these guys were dead-set on finding him for whatever sick plans they have, bringing May into it could endanger her and Peter’s identity. 

Coming to a conclusion, Matt called the only other rational person, he could think of-

 _“‘Ello?”_ a groggy voice answered.

“Foggy. We have a problem,”

_“Oh god, it’s three in the morning that means it’s a horny problem,”_

“...a what?”

_“You know what I mean! The horns. Ya know?”_

“Foggy this is serious,” he took a deep breath, “Peter is really hurt,” a sharp inhale vibrated into his ear from the phone, “could you get medical supplies and drop them off at my apartment?”

 _“Ma-Matt, what the hell happened? Is he okay? Oh god, you need to call Claire,”_ Foggy’s panicked breaths reverberated into the phone.

Matt groaned tiredly, “She’s not in town but the second she is, I’m calling her,” That seemed to calm Foggy at least a little bit, “Please, Fog. Jess is out getting some supplies but we just need everything we can get our hands on.”

The man on the other side of the phone seemed to have swallowed his fear as he realized how detrimental this was to helping Peter, _“O-Okay, I’ll get whatever I can find and leave it on your kitchen counter. I’ll leave your roof entrance unlocked for you too,”_

Matt let out a relieved sigh, “Thanks, Fog. I owe you one,”

 _“You owe me nothing,”_ Foggy replied, _“just...just keep me updated on how he’s doing, okay? I still haven’t beaten him at UNO and I need him in tip-top shape!”_

Matt chuckled. Foggy always had a way of calming him down.

As he was about to hang up, he remembered a very important detail, “Wait! Fog! One more favor,” 

_“What’s up?”_

Matt hesitated, “Can you tell May Parker that Peter is spending some time with us for a field study?”

The man on the other line was silent.

“Foggy?”

_“...You want me to lie to the kid’s aunt? While he's injured enough to have you this scared? Matt, you know I can’t do that.”_

The Devil squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his phone to his forehead, “I know, Foggy. Trust me, I know how bad this is. But please,” There was a hitch of air as if his friend was going to argue his point but Matt powered through, “if May gets involved, she will be put in danger. We are still trying to figure out what’s going on but it’s nothing good. Please, Fog. This will keep her safe.”

Foggy was silent again before he groaned exasperatedly, _“Fine! But now I take back my ‘you owe me nothing’ bullshit. You definitely owe me!”_

He smiled in relief, “Thank you, Fog,” he bid farewell and hung up.

Frank tried not to eavesdrop on Red’s conversation with his buddy and instead diverted his attention to the sleeping kid in his arms. Well, it wasn’t really ‘sleeping’ so much as it was being ‘passed out’. 

As he looked down at Peter’s pale face, Frank was reminded of innocence. This was a child. The boy in his arms was still a child. And some asshole hurt him. Assholes who didn’t even consider the kid to be human. As Peter’s eyelashes fluttered from his eyes moving in unconsciousness, Frank made a promise to himself and to the kid.

_He was going to put a bullet into someone’s head._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading!
> 
> For all you Jessica fans, a majority of the next chapter is in her thoughts so get ready for that! Here's a small little peek if you're curious ;)
> 
> "  
> Murdock’s smile became a smirk and she knew he was about to deflect - “Jessica Jones, are you trying to talk about feelings with me?” - yep, called it.  
> She scowled, “This isn’t a slumber party, asshole. I just want to make sure you have your head screwed on right before we move the kid to your place,”  
> "


	9. Return To The Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessica comes back to the apartment and convinces Matt to do some recon with her. Frank takes the still unconscious Peter to Matt's apartment but runs into someone who is definitely not happy to see him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I would like to state that I LOVE being ahead of my writing schedule! I have decided that my new schedule will be Tuesday and Friday!
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please feel free to critique my characterization and if you have any tips, let me know!

Jessica was back in fifteen minutes with everything on the list and more. Upon entering the apartment, she could see Pete sitting up on the couch and her heart raised as she thought he was awake only for her hopes to die when she saw Frank keeping him up. Seeing her stare, the older man explained, “Can’t put ‘im on his back ‘cause of the stitches. Can’t put ‘im on his stomach ‘cause of the broken ribs, so he’s staying like this ‘til someone has a better suggestion,” Yeah that made sense. 

Jessica shrugged and tossed the plastic grocery bag to him which he caught with his Peter-less hand. Digging through what she bought, Frank saw the bag of chips and a candy bar and leveled her with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged, “They’re the kid’s favorite. I thought he might want them when he wakes up,” Jessica knew she was being hopeful. With the number of injuries including the head injury and infection, not to mention the mental shit, who knew when the kid was gonna wake up. Frank apparently knew better than to question her so he merely shook his head in amusement and removed the medical supplies from the plastic bag.

Looking around, Jessica noticed that Murdock wasn’t in the room anymore. Silently looking at Frank in question, he merely jerked his head towards the fire-escape. Ah. Of course. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen needs is daily brooding time.

Internally groaning, Jessica slid the window open and sat down next to the maskless Murdock. Neither of them said anything for a little while. Murdock was fiddling with his phone. His burner, she noted. 

This observation plus the way he was angst-ly staring into nothingness (okay maybe that part wasn’t on purpose) led Jessica to believe he just got off a phone call with someone who scolded the life out of him and/or made him realize how truly shitty this situation is. 

Jessica came to the conclusion that she’d have to be the one to start the conversation. One emotionally constipated New Yorker to another. Clearing her throat, she decided to open up with a light approach, “So, Counselor. You do something to piss off the wife?” Yep. Light approach.

Murdock merely raised his eyebrows and flattened his mouth into a very unimpressed look which was actually very impressive to do without eye contact. 

“Oh come one, Nelson can’t be that mad at you,” the blonde-haired teddy bear only ever pretended to be irritated with people before he swaddled them in a blanket and fed them. The man was a nightmare.

Murdock sighed, “He’s gonna be bringing some supplies to my apartment,” “What? Mine aren’t good enough for you? That’s harsh,” His mouth ticked up into a small amused smile. One point: Jessica Jones. “We’re gonna need all the supplies we can get until Claire comes back in town,” he reasoned. She nodded in agreement. They definitely needed as much help as they could get considering none of them have treated a teenage mutant before.

“Okay, well, I know that’s not what’s crawled up your ass so what’s wrong?” She would express a little bit of concern. As a treat.

Murdock’s smile became a smirk and she knew he was about to deflect - “Jessica Jones, are you trying to talk about feelings with me?” - yep, called it.

She scowled, “This isn’t a slumber party, asshole. I just want to make sure you have your head screwed on right before we move the kid to your place,” _I’m worried about you_.

The red-clad man next to her let out a deep and tired sigh, exhaustion rattling his bones, “I asked Foggy to feed a cover story to Pete’s aunt-” Ah shit. “-and he wasn’t exactly happy about it,” 

Yep. That’ll do it. Everyone and their mother knew how much Foggy Nelson detested lying and being lied to. “Not that I’m against your cover-up, but why are we lying to the kid’s aunt? She knows about his ‘sticky situation’, right?” 

Murdock nodded, “Yeah...yeah, she knows. I’m just worried about the traffickers,” at her questioning hum, he continued, “If they put that much work into capturing him and keeping him there,” Jessica saw his grip on the phone tighten with poorly concealed anger, “it makes me think they have a bigger plan. And I’m worried that plan will involve Spider-Man. If it does, I don’t want to involve May,”

Now she understood. They didn’t have anything on the traffickers and getting more people involved could end in getting people killed. If the kid lost his aunt, God knows how the kid would take it, “Good point, Counselor,” he scoffed, “No, I’m serious. It’s a good point. We don’t have shit on these guys,” Jessica rose from her seated position, “so let’s go scope them out,”

“What?”

“Oh come on, Murdock. I’m a badass P.I. and you’re a super bloodhound. We can find these guys, do some recon, get some more people involved, and take them down,” Not waiting for an answer, Jessica stuck her head through the window to inform Frank, “We’re gonna go get some info on the dickheads who did this. You good to take Pete to Murdock’s place?”

Frank looked like he wanted to argue, “Just recon?” She nodded, “Yeah, I can take ‘im,”

With that, Jessica grabbed the Devil’s discarded mask and tossed it to him, “Let’s go,”

“Go through the roof entrance,” Murdock told Castle before she and he descended the fire-escape and began their journey back to the basement where they found Spidey.

*********

Frank scrubbed the back of his head and looked down at the child in his arms.

He had two bandages on smaller injuries on his face and a gauze wrap around the crown of his head because of the head injury Red warned him about. He’d begun to disinfect the inflamed arm wound with the supplies Jones got him and now all that was left was dressing it. His chest and thighs had gauze overlapping each other because of the various wounds in fluctuating states of recovery. Most of the gauze pads had some blood leaking through, making Frank question the kid’s healing ability he had witnessed on previous occasions. 

Besides the arm, the two bigger concerns were Webhead’s back and calves. He’d stitched up most of his back but there wasn’t much Frank was able to do so he covered the rest in even more gauze. They’d definitely need Claire to help them with the rest of his back along with the calves. Oh Lord, the calves. They didn’t have the right supplies to remove the chain links embedded into the boy’s legs. Hell, he was scared to touch them because he couldn’t see if they were impaling a muscle or not. 

All Frank knew was that he was out of his element and pained him more than he thought it would. Not being able to help Peter properly, was killing him. 

So all he could do now was pack up and make his way to Red’s apartment. 

He glanced down at Peter, “This is gonna be a shit show, ain’t it, Squirt?”

*********

The snarl on Matt’s face felt permanent as he and Jessica continued to scout the basement. Having to return to a room soaked with the smell of fear and blood. Blood that was once in Peter’s body. 

Jessica squatted next to the area where one of the two main guys in charge was once laying unconscious. There were no more bodies in the basement, they were all picked up by someone who smelled like cigars (not unlike the ones that Foggy gave Brett’s mother), soil from a flower garden (the scent of pesticides is too strong for it to be a vegetable garden), and old cologne. 

There was a strip of fabric that Jessica was picking up with a clean rag she kept in her pocket (no fingerprints), “Think you can smell this and track the guy down?” Matt nearly rolled his eyes before realizing that A) she was serious, B) he might actually be able to do it, and C) she wouldn’t be able to see his eyes through his mask. 

Taking the fabric from her hand, Matt brought it closer to his face. Wool and Polyester. The familiar scent of his own billy clubs told him that he had been the one to take the asshole down and rip his jacket while doing so. Going deeper, Matt was able to smell cooking oil and gas. Restaurant kitchen? None of them seemed to be part of a mob. 

Family business? No, they only referred to the one in charge as ‘boss’. So maybe they’re just guns for hire? No, they spoke like they’ve known their boss for a while. He could smell a cat. Wait. Multiple cats. And dogs. The scent of medical supplies melded with the scent of the animals. A veterinarian clinic. 

He moved the fabric from his face, “Do you remember what the guy wearing this looked like?”

Jessica shrugged and nodded, “Yeah, kinda. I wasn’t really focused on him though,” Matt grunted and began to exit the basement. Jessica quickly got up and followed him, “Wait do you know where he is?”

“I have an idea but we’re gonna have to do some research online,” He told her.

Jessica laughed, “You mean I’m gonna have to do some research online,” she corrected as they began to travel towards his apartment. Matt just huffed in reply and continued to lead the way.

*********

Frank huffed as he gently readjusted the boy mummified boy in his arms. He’d re-covered Peter with the jacket and stuffed the discarded spider suit in the plastic bag containing their medical supplies. 

He’d had to be careful the whole way to Red’s apartment due to the multitude of injuries spread around the unconscious form.

“Shit,” Frank grunted as he climbed the fire-escape stairs up to the roof entrance. Sure the kid wasn’t heavy, but his injuries made it awkward to carry him, thus, making it a struggle.

Letting out a heavy sigh of relief, Frank finally made it to the roof, “Remind me to never do that shit again,” He grunted to Peter’s unhearing ears.

Opening the door a little too harshly, Frank descended the stairs into Red’s apartment and-

“What the _fuck_ , Frank?!”

“Ah hell,”

“Peter nearly died and nobody but Foggy thought to call me! Are you shitting me right now?”

Thank God for Claire Temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA surprise! I couldn't possibly leave Claire out of this for too long ;)  
> The Night Nurse is here and boy is she pissed.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	10. Body is a Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank explains the situation to a concerned Claire while Jessica and Matt return to the apartment. Claire makes a startling revelation. 
> 
> PLEASE READ CHAPTER NOTES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ (don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story)  
> Oh geez I am so sorry that I took so long to update! I just moved to PA and have been adjusting while procrastinating important college stuff that I should not have procrastinated. Once everything is dealt with and I am prepared for the semester, I will sit down and plan/finish more chapters!
> 
> All of your reviews on this story and my other ones have inspired me so much you guys have no idea! I have so many plans for this story and some other Marvel oneshots! 
> 
> Thank you for the continued love and support <3

Frank shuffled nervously, “Thought you were visiting your cousin or somethin’,”

Claire glared at him, “I got back tonight and even if I was still out of town, you should have told me he was hurt! I would have broken speed limits to get back here!”

He looked at the ground knowing that she was right. One of them should have called her. 

Back when everyone was first getting introduced to Spider-Man, all the of the New York vigilantes were painfully aware that this kid was *young. Did they know his specific age? No. But they could see it in the way he carried himself and the way he still charged into situations with hope and (“Hi, Mr. Castle!” “Jesus Christ,”) the way he spoke to people like there was no possible way they could hurt him. The instant you introduce yourself to the kid, all thoughts of “hey maybe this person could hurt me,” flee his mind like a puppy chasing after a new toy and are replaced with the new thought, “wow this person is cool” and “holy buckets what kind of weapon is that and can I touch it?” 

All of these aspects screamed “BABY. THIS IS A BABY. PROTECT HIM.” to anyone the kid had contact with. 

Claire Temple especially.

After the nurse realized that A) this kid is young, B) this kid is as stubborn as any average vigilante with emotional issues, and C) this kid gets hurt a lot, she made it her personal mission to make sure Peter was always in good health.

After he revealed his identity to her, which really didn’t take long because: (“Oh, Double-D trusts you? Well, then I guess I can. Hi, I’m Peter Parker” “How many times have I told you to not give out your full name to people when you first meet them?” “Sorry Mr. Murdock but Ms. Jones says that when I introduce myself with a fake name, I sound like an escort,”) Claire exchanged numbers with the tiny terror and began to bug him every night she didn’t see him.

(“Did you eat enough today? You know how your metabolism is,”

“Matt said you smelled a little like blood when he- yes I know it’s weird- when he last ran into you. Are you okay?”

“Pete, get your ass to my apartment right now...What does having a ‘no pets allowed’ policy have to do with-...I thought Luke told you to stop referring to yourself as a pet just because you have animal DNA,”)

This protective implement meant that anyone who helped the disobedient child hide injuries from Claire was immediately on her shit list. Sometimes this meant you didn’t get pain meds when she did stitches. Other times it meant she only used cartoon-decorated bandages when patching the offender up (Luke was the first to fall victim to that one when images of Power Man donning My Little Pony bandages began circulating the internet _coincidentally_ right after neglecting to tell the doting nurse that Peter had a sprained ankle).

Peter Parker had a way of making the adults in his life immediately fawn over him as if he were a stray kitten.

And right now, he was Claire’s stray kitten. And Frank helped to hide the injured stray kitten from her. Fuck.

Taking a deep breath, Claire decided to push her irritation back for the time being, “Lay him on the couch and give me details,” she ordered.

Knowing it would be better for his health and Peter’s, Frank dutifully followed her orders, “Yes ma’am,” he obeyed.

Claire kneeled next to the couch as Frank gently lowered Peter’s prone form onto the cheap cushions. Multiple vigilantes bleeding into the fabric prompted the devil to purchase cheap pieces of furniture from thrift stores. Danny had helped him to find couches with darker fabrics. This one happened to be dark green.

“Get talkin’, Castle,” Claire ordered as she looked over the patch-job that Jessica, Matt, and Frank did. 

“Red was plannin’ a trafficking bust tonight and called Jones and I in to help,” he began, “he told us that he invited the kid to the party too,” Frank gestured tiredly to Peter, “We waited a little while but Spidey never showed. Jones and I were ready to bust the place up but Red told us to wait a little while longer. Said Pete ain’t checked in for a few days-”

“How many days?”

“Six,”

“Shit.”

“You got that right,” Frank agreed with the sharp curse, “Jones suggested he use his freaky hearing to try and find ‘im,” his voice began to take a more grim tone, “Red heard the kid’s heartbeat or some shit in the same place the shitbag traffickers were.”

“Fuck.”

Frank couldn’t help but scrub a calloused hand over his head. Right over the bullet wound, “We tried to patch ‘im up as best as we could with shit supplies at one o’ my safehouses but we figured it’d be better to treat the damage here.”

Claire nodded in agreement. She knew the state of Frank’s usual safehouses and vehemently agreed that Matt’s shabby apartment was astronomically better than the infection-ridden shit holes the man often found himself in. 

The nurse gently removed Frank’s jacket from around Peter’s shoulders along with the ripped top half of his Spider-Man suit. Claire couldn’t contain her sharp inhale as she was finally able to see the extensive damage.

Frank had stitched up a majority of the damage to Peter’s back but there was still a lot of work to do. His calves were one of her biggest concerns. It was clear that the older man hadn’t known how to proceed with the chains embedded in the boy’s legs. Okay. The calves and the back would be her first mission, then the arm wound that seemed swollen, then the more minor injuries then the- Claire froze, “What the fuck happened to his mouth?”

She could see the ex-marine shuffle hesitantly at her demanding tone, “When we raided the place, we found the squirt wrapped up in chains and with a gag inside ‘is mouth,” his gloves squeaked as Frank’s fists clenched tightly with contained rage, “they left a message shoved down ‘is throat,” he all-but growled. 

Claire couldn’t help but place a gentle hand on the side of Peter’s face. He was just a kid. A child. No person, especially not a child, should go through what Peter had experienced. She didn’t even need all the details of his torture to come to that conclusion.

The quiet of the apartment was broken by the roof-entrance opening to reveal Jessica and Matt. The red-headed man removed his helmet and cocked his head to the side, “Claire? I thought you were out of town,” he said as he and Jessica descended the stairs. It was clear that Matt had been busy in his thoughts otherwise he would have been able to sense Claire's presence from twelve blocks away. 

Not taking her eyes off of Peter’s injured face, Claire told her the same thing she told Frank including that Foggy had called her to see if she was back in town yet. Something the three vigilantes in the room should have done as well.

Matt at least had the decency to look ashamed at her truthfulness. He should have called her. They all knew that Claire would come running back to Hell’s Kitchen the second she heard that Peter was injured.

Snapping out of his pity party (“I like to think of it as a Catholic Guilt Gathering,” “Ooo that’s a good one!” “Catholic guilt is a myth, Pete,” “Mmm is it really?” “He’s got a point, Matt,” “Whose side are you on, Foggy?”) Matt kneeled at Peter’s head, “What can I help you with?” He asked Claire who was checking under all of the bandages they had previously covered the teen’s body with. 

“Use your senses to keep an eye on his vitals and tell me if you see -ah well- _sense_ anything out of the ordinary,”

Matt smirked, “There’s nothing normal about Peter,”

Claire allowed herself to chuckle, “Yeah, well, you’re not wrong,”

With that, Matt honed in on Peter’s wounds. He ignored Claire ordering Jess to find all the towels that Matt had stored in his apartment and Frank to boil water so the grimy water of Hell’s Kitchen wouldn’t infect Pete’s wounds.

Wait. Infect. 

Remembering the inflamed, arm wound that he had previously taken note of, Matt zeroed in on it.

An unnatural heat surrounded the wound. The smell of sweat and proteus and blood blanketed the air around Peter’s arm.

Blood? Fresh blood. Meaning it was actively leaking from the wound. That didn’t seem right. He had accelerated healing. Why wasn’t he healing? The sound of skin knitting itself back together that he had faintly heard earlier was gone. “Claire, why isn’t he healing?”

His question gained the attention of Jess and Frank as well. Claire joined him in observing the infected arm wound and answered him, “My best guess is that he wasn’t given proper nutrients while they had him. With his accelerated metabolism, the lack of nutrients could have affected his other abilities. But,” she continued with a hesitant air around her, “it could also be psychosomatic,”

Frank’s heavy boots stomped along the flooring as he brought the boiled water over to the couch, “What? You’re sayin’ that Pete’s doing this to himself?” The way he phrased his question sounded like the mere idea of Claire’s suggestion was crazy.

Claire directed a heavy glare to the armored man, “ _I’m saying_ that he’s a teenager who obviously went through a traumatic experience. If he’s stuck in his head with nothing but horrible memories, his brain isn’t going to know what to heal first. I’m no Helen Cho so it’s just a theory,” she finished with a shrug.

Jessica carried the towels over and placed them next to Matt, “I think I get it. The kid’s too stuck in his head to realize the pain isn’t just inside, but it’s outside too. So his mutation is trying to heal wounds on the inside but those aren’t physical so it’s not doing much to really help him, it’s just neglecting the physical injuries that actually need healing,” The private investigator surmised. 

Claire blinked up at her with bewilderment, “Yeah...basically,”

Jessica scoffed, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m no genius like Petey but I’m not stupid like, Castle,” She smirked at the man who merely flipped her off in response.

“Huh,” Claire huffed, still reeling. 

Matt tapped on her shoulder to gain her attention, “How are we supposed to help him if he’s stuck in his head?”

Claire blew out a sigh of air, “I guess we need to treat this like a dissociative episode,” At the three questioning looks she gained, the nurse elaborated, “We need to ground him and make him feel like he’s back in his body again. We can do this by fixing his wounds, talking to him, and maybe playing music he will easily recognize. We can also try to stimulate his senses little by little,” she finished.

“Let’s do that _after_ you stitch him up and treat the more painful wounds,” Matt suggested.

“Right,” Claire nodded. That made sense. She didn’t have any of the painkillers she normally used for Peter and his super metabolism on hand. Plus, it was clear that his captors already gave him something and Claire didn’t want to take the chance of it still being in his system while she gives him even more drugs. No way he would survive an overdose in this state.

Claire got back to work on stitching Peter’s back with Matt’s help. It didn’t take long for Frank to fill the silence.

“So...what’d you find on your recon mission?” He asked Jessica more than Matt due to him focusing on the injured Spider.

“Murdock was able to find out one of the guys in charge of that specific location works at a family-owned vet clinic. I’m gonna do some research to limit the possibilities then Murdock’s gonna dress up in his long-johns and scope out which of the clinics actually had the shit-bird as an employee. He’s gonna beat the fuck out of the dude, get info, tell us the info, and then we’re gonna beat the ever-living tar out of those fuck-wads. Sound good?” Jessica sent him an overly cheerful smile at the end of her explanation.

In lieu of a response, Frank turned his questioning stare to Red as if he were asking for confirmation before remembering that he’s unable to see Frank’s look. Before he could recover from his rising embarrassment, Red sent him a smirk and a nod. Wise-ass.

It was hours before Claire let out a relieved sigh. Jessica and Frank dozed off in differing uncomfortable positions while Matt remained by her side in a silent vigil. He had to alert her multiple times when it seemed like Peter’s heart rate was rising too high or if she was too close to a muscle. 

Matt placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “You did your best, you should sleep now,”

All of the fight seemed to bleed out of her at his words and Claire could do nothing but nod tiredly and stumble into one of Matt’s comfier chairs.

As her eyes drifted shut, she looked at Peter’s unconscious body. He was laid on his least-injured side when Matt laid a soft blanket over him and his various bandaged wounds. 

Claire did the best that she could do but she couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t enough. She removed the chain links in his calves and stitched them up, finished the stitches on his back, disinfected and dressed his smaller wounds, applied disinfectant, and ointment onto the arm wound in hopes that the infection would lessen before his waking, and various other treatments.

Allowing herself to finally drift to sleep, Claire shared the same thought that the other vigilantes in the room thought that same night: 

A war was going on inside Peter’s head and they were all powerless to help him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking of opening Marvel one-shot requests! If you're interested, feel free to send some requests/prompts to my tumblr: beary-scary
> 
> :D

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to make a hurt/comfort fic that focuses on Peter's age. I know that age does not equal maturity but Peter is a kid fighting a war physically and mentally. I feel like in the comics, his age was kind of overlooked and in the MCU, it's used as a weapon against him, so I just wanted to make this as a reflection on him as well as a reflection on how other's view him (in my universe).
> 
> Thank you for reading and I will try to update as soon as possible! All comments are deeply appreciated and warm my lil heart!


End file.
